Over the past six months or so as the economy has retreated into recession, we have seen one economic stimulus package after another. And although we all hope that the economy will recover, regardless of how we feel about the methods being used, the fact is that no one really knows for sure if any of this massive spending will really do anything to address our economic woes.
But there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that all these problems could have been avoided in the first place if we as a nation would have just heeded the words of Qoheleth in the passage from Ecclesiastes that we are going to look at this morning. In this passage, we’ll find some measures which could have been taken in order to prevent this mess in the first place as well as the only fool-proof solution to our economic woes. Let’s read our passage.
8 If you see the oppression of the poor, and the violent perversion of justice and righteousness in a province, do not marvel at the matter; for high official watches over high official, and higher officials are over them. 9 Moreover the profit of the land is for all; even the king is served from the field. 10 He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; Nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity. 11 When goods increase, They increase who eat them; So what profit have the owners Except to see them with their eyes? 12 The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, Whether he eats little or much; But the abundance of the rich will not permit him to sleep. 13 There is a severe evil which I have seen under the sun: Riches kept for their owner to his hurt. 14 But those riches perish through misfortune; When he begets a son, there is nothing in his hand. 15 As he came from his mother’s womb, naked shall he return, To go as he came; And he shall take nothing from his labor Which he may carry away in his hand. 16 And this also is a severe evil - Just exactly as he came, so shall he go. And what profit has he who has labored for the wind? 17 All his days he also eats in darkness, And he has much sorrow and sickness and anger. 18 Here is what I have seen: It is good and fitting for one to eat and drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labor in which he toils under the sun all the days of his life which God gives him; for it is his heritage. 19 As for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, and given him power to eat of it, to receive his heritage and rejoice in his labor - this is the gift of God. 20 For he will not dwell unduly on the days of his life, because God keeps him busy with the joy of his heart.
Ecclesiastes 5:8-20 (NKJV)
Although the word doesn’t appear even once in this passage, the underlying theme in this passage certainly has to be that of contentment. Not surprisingly, there is pretty much universal agreement that our economic woes in this country have their roots in a lack of contentment. Far too many people were encouraged to go out and buy things, primarily houses, that they couldn’t afford, because they weren’t content with what they had. And now all of us, even those of us who have been responsible with our finances are suffering the consequences of that lack of contentment.
No matter how well all these economic stimulus packages help to restore our economy, these are only going to be short-term fixes until we as a country address the underlying causes, which are really matters of the heart, and not matters of our checkbooks.
As you look at this passage before us, it becomes very apparent that the passage contains two very distinct sections. In verses 8-17, Qoheleth looks at the world around him and he sees people who have bought into a number of myths about contentment. And in verse 17, he describes the result of buying into those myths:
17 All his days he also eats in darkness, And he has much sorrow and sickness and anger.
I can’t think of a more accurate description of life here in the United States right now. People are living in darkness and they can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. They are becoming more and more angry at what they see around them, They are worn out and sick and tired. But the solution to their problems does not lie in any economic stimulus package that our government can produce. It won’t be solved by either more spending or by cutting taxes, by either Democrats or Republicans.
So in verses 18-20, Qoheleth provides us with the answer, the solution, to these woes. This is the real economic stimulus package. In fact, it is the only one that will work in the long run.
In the first section of this passage we can discern four myths about contentment that we have bought into as a culture. So, unlike our political leaders in this country who have been quick to throw money at our problems without first making an assessment of the root causes, we need to take a few moments to make sure that we identify these myths so that we don’t allow them to rob us of contentment in our lives. Because ultimately that is the root cause of our problems.
MYTHS ABOUT CONTENTMENT
1. Contentment is a goal to achieve
Contentment is not a goal to achieve but rather a byproduct that is produced as a result of the process of living our lives in the pursuit of God and of His purposes and plans for our lives.
An old dog was watching a young dog chase his tail. The young dog stopped to rest, and told the older dog, “I believe happiness is in my tail, and if I catch it, then I will have happiness!” The older, wiser dog said, “I caught mine once…and I found out that happiness is not in the catching, it’s in the pursuit.”
One of the features that helps us distinguish between the two sections of this passage is the verbs. If you look at the verbs in the first section you will see that every verb describes actions being carried out by man in pursuit of contentment. But there is obviously no contentment to be found.
But in the second section, God is the one who is doing all the action. It is he who gives life, wealth and riches, power, work and the ability to find contentment in it all. Quite ironically, real contentment comes not from pursuing all those things we think will provide us with contentment, but rather it is actually a byproduct of pursuing God.
The problem with viewing contentment as some goal to achieve is that we relegate it to being some future event rather than a present reality that we can embrace right now.
I’m reminded of the airline pilot who was flying over a river. He said to his co-pilot, “See that river down there? When I was a boy I would fish down there and every time I would see a plane flying over I would think, “I sure would like to be up there flying that plane.” Now every time I fly over that river I look down and think, “I sure would like to be down their fishing!”
How many of us can relate to that? How often do we look back on life and recognize how many times we failed to find contentment in the present because we assumed that it was some goal to pursue for the future?
2. Stuff will bring contentment
One of the really neat things about Ecclesiastes is that much of it, like our passage today, could have just as easily been written today as it was thousands of years ago. Things haven’t really changed that much over the years. People today are still caught up in this myth that stuff will bring contentment. And the stuff I’m referring to here isn’t just limited to material possessions either. It might be a promotion at work, or winning a competition, or being recognized by others.
But while we might get a moment or two of pleasure or happiness from all of our stuff, it won’t last, because our stuff won’t last. When Qoheleth describes in verse 14 how riches perish through misfortune, I can’t help but think of the $3 trillion in wealth that has disappeared in this country in the stock market over the past six months. And if you were banking on your 401-K or your IRA or your mutual funds for your security and peace in life, then my guess is that you’re not very content right now. If you’re depending on your job for your contentment and you watch people being laid off all around you or if you’ve been laid off yourself, then you’re probably not very content right now. If you’re relying on some other person for your contentment and they’ve left you or they’ve fallen short of your expectations for them, then you’re probably not very content right now.
I know that a number of us in this room right now can attest to this first hand. Some of us invested in the Baptist Foundation, only to watch our investments collapse. And then as we slowly got some of that money back over the years and invested in the stock market, we eventually recouped most of our investment, only to watch much of it disappear again as the stock market crashed. But if you’ve learned to heed these words of Jesus, you can still be content in the midst of these losses:
Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."
Luke 12:15 (NIV)
If we believe the myth that stuff brings contentment, then the next logical extension of that belief is our third myth…
3. More stuff will bring more contentment
Throughout this first section of the passage, there is an emphasis on consumption, which is indicated primarily through the word that is translated “eat”. For instance, we could accurately translate verse 11:
When goods increase, They increase who consume them
While we have bought into the idea that consumption renders contentment, what we find instead is that consumption simply leads to more consumption and creates this vicious cycle in which one is never satisfied.
Rather than bringing contentment, the accumulation of more and more actually has the opposite effect. As Qoheleth accurately points out, the laborer who doesn’t have a whole lot has more peace of mind and sleeps a whole lot better than the man who has much.
There is a story of a rich industrialist who was disturbed to find a fisherman sitting lazily beside his boat. "Why aren’t you out there fishing?" he asked.
"Because I’ve caught enough fish for today," said the fisherman.
"Why don’t you catch more fish than you need?’ the rich man asked.
"What would I do with them?"
"You could earn more money," came the impatient reply, "and buy a better boat so you could go deeper and catch more fish. You could purchase nylon nets, catch even more fish, and make more money. Soon you’d have a fleet of boats and be rich like me."
The fisherman asked, "Then what would I do?"
"You could sit down and enjoy life," said the industrialist.
The fisherman said, "What do you think I’m doing right now?!"
Qoheleth once again returns in this passage to the idea that death ultimately levels the playing field for all of us. No matter how much we accumulate in this world, we can’t take any of it with us. And since it can’t bring us contentment in this world either, it is vanity to even attempt to do so.
Many of the economic problems we face can be traced directly to those who thought they could find more contentment by getting more stuff. It began with people who couldn’t really afford a house being encouraged to buy one anyway, or those who already had a house trying to go out and buy a bigger and more expensive one. They were prodded along with a promise of never-ending appreciation in home prices and the lure of easy credit. And then bankers and investment firms got caught up in the anticipation of making a fast buck by packaging up these mortgages and selling them over and over again at inflated prices. And Qoheleth predicted the inevitable outcome in verse 16:
And what profit has he who has labored for the wind?
4. I’m from the government and I’m here to help you
I’m sorry, but there was no way I could read verses 8 and 9 without this thought immediately coming to mind. I was struck by the thought of how well these verses describe our culture and our government today. Qoheleth tells his readers not to be surprised at the injustice and unrighteousness that was occurring around them because the political leaders who should have been the protectors of those who were being oppressed were much more concerned about their own welfare than helping others out.
Doesn’t this perfectly describe what is going on in Washington, D.C. right now? The very people who helped create this whole economic mess by passing legislation to encourage irresponsible behavior and feed this idea that more stuff brings more contentment are now the ones in charge of trying to fix the situation.
We now live in a country where an increasing number of people are counting on the government to provide them with everything they need for their contentment in life. And the politicians from every party and at every level of government are spending us into oblivion in order to try to appease all these people and protect their political careers.
But this myth is really much broader. The real essence of this myth is that our contentment is dependent on someone else, whether that be the government, some other entity, or even other people. But just like our stuff, all those things will one day pass away and they will continue to disappoint us time after time even before then.
Up to this point, it’s not a very pretty picture for us, is it? But there is light at the end of the tunnel. In the closing verses of this passage, Qoheleth presents us with his real economic stimulus package. This plan is both an antidote which could have prevented these problems in the first place and it is also the only solution which is guaranteed to fix the problems that we have now. Since the root cause of all our problems is a lack of contentment, the solution must address that root cause. So let’s look at:
HOW TO FIND CONTENTMENT
You’ll notice that verses 18-20 are actually quite similar to a couple other passages we’ve already looked at in Ecclesiastes as well as some we’ll see in the future. But it certainly won’t hurt us to review some principles which may be very similar to some that we’ve found in previous messages. And there are also some things that are unique to this passage as well. Once again Qoheleth provides us with some very practical advice here.
1. Be grateful
When Paul sat down to write his first letter to a young pastor named Timothy, I can’t help but think that when he came to the part of the letter that would later become chapter 6 in our Bibles, that Paul was thinking of this passage from Ecclesiastes. See if you can’t hear echoes of Qoheleth in these words penned by Paul:
But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
1 Timothy 6:6-10 (NIV)
The most content people in the world are those who are also the most grateful. They are the ones who recognize that everything in the world belongs to God and that whatever they have, be it great or small, they have only because God has given it to them. They don’t lament about what they don’t have because they are too busy being grateful to God for what they do have. They are the kind of people who Pastor Bob Russell describes in his book, Jesus, Lord of Your Personality:
It is a rare person who, when his cup frequently runs over, can give thanks to God instead of complaining about the limited size of his mug!
It is only when we are truly grateful that we can follow Qoheleth’s frequent admonition to enjoy all that God has given to us – food, drink, and even our work.
In the Jerusalem Talmud, there is a saying:
Every man must render an account before God of all the good things he beheld in life and did not enjoy.
There is just no way that we can enjoy the good things that God has given us if we’re looking around and grumbling about all the things we don’t have. The first key to contentment is to be grateful for what we do have.
2. Be a giver, not a consumer
We’ve already seen the frustration that results from focusing on consumption. But there is a better way.
In verses 18-20, we see that God is revealed as a giver – He gives life, riches, wealth, and power. Even the ability to enjoy all those things is a gift from God. It is God’s very nature to be a giver. Certainly this is not the only place in the Bible where God’s nature as a giver is revealed. From His creation in Genesis to His final redemption of man in Revelation, we find that it is God’s nature to give.
And since we are created in God’s image, it only makes sense that we will be most content in life when we live our lives in a manner that is consistent with that nature.
As Paul continues with his letter to Timothy, he makes that point even more directly:
Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.
1 Timothy 6:17-19 (NIV)
God provides us with wealth in our lives, not just consume for our own pleasure, but also so that we will share it with others. We shouldn’t be surprised at that since, as we’ve seen in both Ephesians and Ecclesiastes we’ve been created to live in community with others. So when we become a giver, rather than a consumer of our wealth, we can be content because we are fulfilling God’s purposes in our lives.
To be sure, there is a balance here. Qoheleth is obviously not trying to say that we have to give everything away and that we can’t enjoy any of the fruits of our own labor. But what we obviously need to guard against is the endless pursuit of more and more for the purpose of just consuming what we acquire for our own pleasure. Qoheleth is quite clear that there is nothing wrong with enjoying what God provides for us, just as long as the gifts don’t replace the Giver of the gifts as the object of our worship.
3. Live in the present
Qoheleth closes the passage with these words:
20 For he will not dwell unduly on the days of his life, because God keeps him busy with the joy of his heart.
I really like Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of that verse in The Message:
God deals out joy in the present, the now. It’s useless to brood over how long we might live.
As we’ve already seen, one of the things that can rob us of our contentment is the tendency to focus on what is going to make us content in the future instead of enjoying what we have right now.
Probably one of the best illustrations of this principle is God’s provision of manna to His people in the desert. Each day, God provided just enough manna for his people to eat – even providing a double portion the day before the Sabbath so that the people would not have to gather food on the Sabbath. But some, who were not content to just have enough for that day, tried to gather more than they needed. But just as God had promised, every time they did that, the excess would become full of maggots and create a stench.
That’s probably what Jesus had in mind when He taught His disciples to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” In other words, we need to learn to just be content if we have enough today and not worry about trying to hoard in order to try and provide some kind of security for the future.
Once again, there is obviously a balance here. Living in the present doesn’t mean that we don’t take prudent measures to prepare for the future. The Bible certainly teaches that we should do that. But once again, our focus is the key. If we focus on trying to accumulate wealth and possessions as our means of future security and contentment, we are going to be greatly disappointed. But if we walk with God one day at a time according to His principles that He has given us in His Word, we will take the appropriate measures not because we can find security and contentment in them, but because they will merely be a natural by-product of our relationship with God.
Aren’t you glad that our security and contentment is not tied to the decisions of a bunch of politicians? I’m really concerned about what I see going on in our country right now. I’m concerned about the massive debt that is being accumulated and that will be laid on the backs of my children and grandchildren. But nonetheless I am completely content, because I realize that the only economic stimulus package that really matters is the one we find here in the Scriptures.
My contentment does not depend on the circumstances around me, no matter how bad they may get. As long as I can just be grateful for whatever God chooses to give me, as long as I can be a giver and not just a consumer and as long as I can live for today, then I can find my contentment in Jesus.
